President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
The International Monetary Fund sees little evidence that China's central bank has deliberately reduced the value of the nation's currency — a position at odds with the Trump administration's decision this week to accuse Beijing of manipulating the yuan.
The IMF said Friday in its yearly review of China's economy
that the yuan has been "broadly stable" against other currencies, suggesting there's been little intervention by the People's Bank of China. A weaker yuan would give Chinese exporters a competitive price advantage over foreign rivals.
The Treasury Department on Monday named China a currency manipulator for the first time since 1994. The move, reversing its decision in May to keep China off the blacklist, came after Beijing's central bank let the yuan drop to its lowest point in 11 years.
"Clearly, they are manipulating their currency," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC Friday.
China's central bank sets the exchange rate each morning and allows the yuan to fluctuate by 2 per cent against the dollar during the day. The central bank can buy or sell currency — or order commercial banks to do so — to keep the yuan's price from swinging too widely.
